True, it was not all play.
There were muddy roads to plod through and treacherous sloughs to cross.
There were nights when camp had to be pitched in rain, and mornings when he was obliged to rise stiff and sore to find the cattle strayed away and everything wet and grimy.

But the sunshine soon warmed his back and dried up the mud under his feet.

Each day the way grew drier and the flowers more abundant.

Each day signs of the wild life thickened.
Antlers of elk, horns of the buffalo, crates of bones set around shallow water holes, and especially the ever-thickening game trails furrowing the hills filled the boy's heart with delight.

This was the kind of life he wished to see.